Friday, May 22, 2009

Santa Maria, California might be famous for its barbecued beef tri tip, but for local aficionados it's all about the beans. Classic Santa Maria style beans are made with a special variety of pink beans called pinquitos.

These "little pink" beans are prepared in a spicy, smoky, tomato/chili sauce that's spiked with not one, but two kinds of pork. Santa Maria beans have come into my life relatively late, so I plan on making up for lost time this barbecue season.

One thing I forgot to mention in the voiceover, do not salt the beans when you simmer them. Adding salt at the beginning when you cook beans is said to cause them to become tough.

Having said that, I have no idea if that's true since I've never tried it the "wrong" way. But, hey, why would someone makes up something like that?

Don't worry if you can't find the authentic pinquito beans - the recipe you see here was made with regular pink beans, and pretty much any dry bean will work. Enjoy!

These beans are also called "poquitos" and "pinquitos". BTW, if you are fanatical enough, you can mail-order them on-line at http://www.poquitos.com/. This site's minimum order is 24 lbs. of beans (12 two pound bags) so you need to be a serious Santa Maria BBQ'er. There are a lot of those around here, I live in Santa Barbara, same county as Santa Maria.

I tried this recipe with lentils... I made two batches, one was (blasphemously!) vegetarian and one was identical to the above-BOTH turned out amazing and were the stars of a large and elaborate barbecue.

Thanks Chef John! I look forward to the posting of the "real" Santa Maria beans recipe!

Hi Lance!Chef John is away on a well deserved vacation and I will be answering questions meanwhile. Dried kidney beans will work just fine. Be sure to follow Chef John's suggestion of not salting the beans while they cook. At the end, taste the beans for tenderness and seasoning. Enjoy!

Thank you Chef John:I followed your Santa Maria Beans recipe exactly.This recipe is simply amazing!I've also made your Goulash (Wolfgang Puck version) and I've made several times your French Cassoulet with duck confit,Your recipes have in wonderful ways changed my home forever.